MySpace has been acting a bit odd all year. Last month all Flash embeds on the site were turned off for a few hours. Some people speculated that they were testing the waters, seeing what kind of backlash they would see from user complaints. MySpace PR flatly denied these speculations, however, saying it was nothing more than a bug.
Still, some sites are seeing what look to be permanent bans from the site. Vidilife, Stickam and Revver widgets cannot be placed on the site, and MySpace hasn’t said why, or if they’d be let back on. These services are at a loss as to what to do - in a recent post on the Revver blog they ask for users to email MySpace and request that the service be turned back on.
Tonight we’re hearing that popular widget provider Imeem is the latest service to be banned.
It’s clear that MySpace isn’t happy with the fact that other services are building their business on the back of their massive user numbers - Peter Chernin, the COO of News Corp. (MySpace’s parent company) said as much late last year and specifically named YouTube, Flickr and Photobucket as services that were “really driven off the back of MySpace.”
Industry insiders have said (and continue to say) that MySpace has had enough of building third party widget providers into massive businesses. They say MySpace is preparing to block all widget providers over time and will let only those who pay a “toll” back in. MySpace PR denies this as well, saying that the January block was a developer error, and not commenting at all on the recent service-specific blockages.
If MySpace does eventually go the route of generally blocking widget providers, except those willing to pay a fee, they’ll be called to the mat for previously saying that they have no plans to do so. And whether these blockages really are developer errors, or in fact shots across their bow, widget companies that rely on MySpace for users are literally quaking in their boots, waiting to see who’s next to get blocked.
I’ve pinged MySpace for a comment on the Imeem blockage, but don’t expect to hear back from them until Monday.
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I would hardly call imeem a “popular” site/widget… Nice PR attempt though
Actually Imeem is very popular. It is the third most popular social networking site, following youtube and myspace. So i would get some facts straight if you would like to act like it is nothing but a stupid website
Isnt it kinda scarry to build a business based soley on some other business?
“Peter Chernin, the COO of News Corp. (MySpace’s parent company) said as much late last year and specifically named YouTube, Flickr and Photobucket as services that were “really driven off the back of MySpace.”
I strongly disagree with Flickr being in this list Flickr was big well before myspace and a lot of the (l)users on myspace who hotlink images use Photobucket (but that was again already big)
The ones ‘driven’ off the back of myspace should be things like slide which is so over-hyped - without myspace that’ll be in the deadpool. If I was in myspaces’s shoes and saw the silly money flying around from the likes of Slide I know I’d permanently ban them!
do you know if this is live yet? I’m looking at an imeem player right now…
myspace are way to arrogant - shutting out widgets seems to violate the “community” spirit that they are profiting from
@JasonM
You re right..
I think this is a part of the slow death of MySpace. They’ve made a lot of moves recently which are sure to tick off, or at least concern, their members. If you’re a user of any of the banned widgets, you mightn’t realise they’re blocked on purpose but you’d certainly think the fault lay with MySpace’s service.
Couple such ‘problems’ with the upcoming ability for parents to monitor a child’s accounts, and you’re likely to see a very fickle age demographic jumping ship.
@JasonM & @rxbbx
Don’t forget that myspace has the right to to set a price for each widget or any service that runs on their system!!
Why should they put these widgets(aka Ads!) for free?!!
One thing I have noticed over the last year that I have been at MySpace is that the programmers are very unskilled and unprofessional. I have never seen features, especially bulletins, break down so often. At first I thought, how can a bunch of programmers keep breaking the safe feature over and over again. If they had been working for me, they would have been let go already.
But now, having read this post, it does make sense that they could have been adding some new filtering schemes all these times. Programmers can’t be so dumb to break the same code over and over and over and over…can they?
For anyone who’s interested in the way that myspace was put together technically and how it scaled up to ~100 million users, I’d strongly recommend the following article from BaselineMag:
http://www.baselinemag.com/art.....921,00.asp
Regarding Imeem - I’d imagine that the ‘official’ reason would be something to do with the fact that most of the playlists on imeem are rammed full of copyrighted content. Shame for Imeem. Looks like a quality product. I disagree with the fact that it is solely based on myspace. Remember that these ‘widget’ providers can be embedded in any user-generated-content websites, blogs etc. Obviously myspace being the biggest of these.
Marcus
@Enblogopedia
You have a point when you say MySpace should set a price, or just make some rules or arrangement. But these widgets give MySpace something extras if you know what i mean.
@Marcus
Nice article..
MySpace has recently blocked out stalkertrack.com a myspace tracker site, but stalkertrack wouldn’t just allow that, so they developed a way around myspaces filters, and currently have a huge data base of users utilizing their myspace tracker service.
oops, looks like they moved their page to stalkertrack.com/home
All I gotta so is that these freakin widgets are causing problems for the myspace technical team. The system is overloaded with sh*t. Call it what you want but these widgets are costing myspace money in the sense that the technical team is always needing to spend time on buggy widgets that mess up myspace. These “pests” are creating the bugs for myspace.
Can’t say I blame MySpace at all for possibly wanting some of the revenues. However, I think if that is the case they should be upfront about it.
Where there is a problem to be solved, one starts up a company to remedy that problem. Looks like MySpace has made a strategic error. It’s time to build a service that does the exact things MySpace does, but better. I wrote a blog post about it on my blog.
Maybe they’re tapped out of ideas, and can’t stand to see other companies succeed. Why not try to piggyback on other businesses as well? Maybe have a Myspace page on Revver, and get some PR out of that….
There’s so many ways to handle this, but Myspace clearly has lost its imagination…
I don’t know if anyone else knows yet but they are also parsing through your embed objects when you add them…
For example I added:
-embed src=”x.swf” /-
And it came out like this:
-object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” data=”x.swf” border=”0″ height=”200″ width=”200″-
-param name=”movie” value=”x.swf”-
-param name=”allownetworking” value=”internal” /-
-param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”never” /-
-param name=”enableJSURL” value=”false” /-
-param name=”enableHREF” value=”false” /-
-param name=”saveEmbedTags” value=”true” /-
-/object-
Seems like they’re trying to be really secure but at the same time they are screwing over a lot of people by blocking more widgets.
it seems to me that myspace has never had their customers’ interests in mind so why would they start now?
“a crappy site introducing a crappy new revenue model that treats their users like crap.”
MySpace itself is building their business and profiteering from their massive user base. They should give their users the ability to embed whatever they want in appreciation of their support.
Myspace is essentially squeezing the balls of these pesky widget companies. Myspace would still exist without these widgets, but companies like slide would not exist without myspace.
I can see myspace charging a “rent” to the services wanting their widgets on myspace in the future. Everyone else will be blocked. No more leaching.
What… no plug for Splashcast?
Flickr isn’t build on the back of myspace, that’s crap.
In 1994 a Regional Bell Operating Company considered buying Netscape. The deal fell apart on price, but the RBOC’s offering price (and Netscape’s asking price, as I recall) was well below $100M. Netscape went on to be worth somewhat more than $100M, but I have always maintained that if the RBOC had purchased Netscape, Netscape would never have been worth much more than the RBOC paid for it. Increasingly - it looks like the folks that now own MySpace are doing the same thing that the RBOC would have done to Netscape - choking it to death because they do not understand the nature of the business.
MySpace is the moderator / curator of a Web 2.0 community. They do not “own” the community, and do not get to extract revenue from every last thing the community does. This same issue is one that EBay has faced for years, and that is addressed in detail in “The Perfect Store”.
Basically - building a successful Web 2.0 community requires making the experience as frictionless as possible for the members. Most things that generate revenue add friction. Too much friction, and members will stop using the site. Not enough, and the companies isn’t profitable. There is a line, and right now MySpace seems to think it can treat their ecosystem like the RBOCs and cable TV companies treat their subscribers - one where members can’t easily just pick up and move to a different service.
myspace should do whatever they want…building a widget in a basement is not a ticket to a ferrari. there are a lot of issues in business.
I agree with Andy Forbes’ comments. Providing for the widgets is a cost of doing business for mySpace. Restricting the user’s options will probably backfire bigtime with the teenage crowd.
Vidilife was blocked from MySpace because Vidilife is part of Brad Greenspan’s (one of the former MySpace founders) new company, LiveUniverse. Due to the ongoing conflict between Brad and MySpace, it was easy to predict that Vidilife would have been blocked from Myspace. I expect that Brad / LiveUniverse’s new video project, LiveVideo.com, will soon be banned as well.
Frankly, MySpace is just being a bit childish and playing the denial game will only result in them looking like the greedy morons they are.
Could it be likely that SpringWidgets may be being built up in the background by Fox Interactive as a way to manage this on MySpace?
Right now it does seem like MySpace and Springbox have little to do with each other, but it could easily become a solution they could use to monetize this new “industry”.
I have always thought that MySpace was just banning services that served ads through widgets. I can’t see why it would be in their interest to ban widgets that do not do this though.
Well the thing with MySpace is that a lot of businesses, music bands, etc. have grown through networking alone. Just in the last year they’ve released a CD of some of the best tunes from the bands on MySpace. I’m not sure how well that did. Anyone?
There are a few girls on MySpace who have become extremely populate, one appeared in Playboy and another on Jay Leno, I believe. So to say that MySpace is trying to filter out some companies from having their stuff embedded makes no sense. Look at all the sites that provide profile alteration tools.
One thing that MySpace should do is trap the spoofing attempts.
Okay, I’m stopping here and writing a blog, damn it.
i do see a resentment of myspace’s users about the co. blocking third party widgets
why should myspace expect any part of the revenue from these third party co.s?
myspace themselves brought nothing to the table.
it was its users that ‘pulled’ for these services
my judgement: shame on myspace
Myspace can afford to be arrogant.
Myspace was big before imeem had any success, and they will be fine without them.
While the idea of this may frustrate the techcrunch audience, the public at large could care less.
I am on myspace, even though I hate the site. The reason is because all of my high school and college friends are there. not because of some slide show.
Everyone is already there and that is why everyone is there.
I think their “official” response is going to be along the lines of copyright for Imeem, protecting users from stickam (live webchat can be a big thing for porn, or predators), revver for violating TOS (you can’t advertise on myspace), vidilife - this one I’m not sure, I think they just don’t like Brad Greenspan for obvious reasons.
It’s not a bad thing that these other services were able to build their business because of myspace…myspace should acknowledge that. It shows that myspace has an active user base and these other companies are able to generate business because of myspace. Just like eBay, just like all of the other popular sites. MySpace should not draw barriers, they should keep their site open for other businesses to engage. Newscorp…hah.
As has been noted so many times, building a startup that is basically 100% on another company that can shut them down is just dumb. The investors in these startup should have known better.
That said, widgets have become a major part of MySpace and if I was MySpace I’d be strategic about this. I would open up negotiations with several of the companies whose widgets are most frequently embedded and cut a deal for them to be included in a “Widget Certification Program.” This, of course, would have a fee (most likely sliding based upon the usage of your widgets). The companies signing these initial deals would pay less than the standard certification fee. Once signed, I’d announce that MySpace’s policy on widgets has changed due to security concerns. In order to ensure a quality and secure user experience, we’re implementing a program that will enable the widget companies to allow their users to continue to embed their widgets on MySpace so long as they go through a “certification process” which makes sure the integrity of their widgets is not in question. This makes it look like MySpace is protecting the interests of its users and places the burden on the widget companies. If Imeem doesn’t pay up for the certification program, but 15 other widget makers do, Imeem’s users can only blame Imeem. It was probably very naive for these companies to expect that they could build a business off of MySpace and other popular sites forever without having to pay anything. The certification becomes a cost of doing business, and given how important MySpace is to many of these companies, their continued survival probably would probably depend on paying up. Of course MySpace would probably want to use the same tactic as patent trolls: make the cost of participating in the Widget Certification Program just below the point where it wouldn’t be viable for the company.
As people have mentioned, Imeem is rampant with copyright infringement. Pull their widgets and you can help avoid another lawsuit for News Corp. Imeem doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Really, Myspace can block any backriders they want to.
i just checked out myspace and youtube videos and a ton of music widgets are still running on myspace, so it looks like the copyrights is not the issue here. also, from the website, it would seem that the imeen site actually works with the record companies or musical artists. this is no different than what SNS companies like myspace, hi5, friendster and everyone else is doing with users and record companies, no?
Social networking sites or any blog sites for that matter have the right to allow or block other companies’ widgets. myspace has that right and is not obligated to anyone, just like you would have that right over your own website.
if your users don’t get mad and leave the site, it makes good business to charge the biggest and best widgets for a spot on your social network.
Honestly, I can’t say I blame them. MySpace isn’t really an internet company anymore, the way that blog networks (9rules, Gawker, *Crunch) or Yahoo! are. They’re owned by a big media company, and it’s starting to show.
If you’re an old-media company, and you see people adding on to your product and making money off it, you want a cut. That simple. The default state is a closed system, and if people want a piece, they have to buy their way in. Too bad they’re going this way, but I’m not shocked.
some of these widgets help build myspace just as much as myspace help build them!
Come on people… widgets are NOT a business! This a commodity if I ever saw one. Even worse, a commodity with no extractable value. The day a widget maker starts showing 3rd party paid ads on their widget is the same day they are blocked forever from the likes of Myspace.
Being in the widget business is like perpetually giving away free lunches. Great for the consumer, but of no business value. Sooner or later the customer must pay, right? Only in the web world this means carrying advertising. At such time, the widget maker has his lease revoked by the landlord (ie: Myspace)
To me, this is much to do about nothing. Myspace is about a $10M acquisition or two away from internally hosting and providing all the cool widgets you could ever imagine. Heck, give me $5M and our developers will churn out 20 cool widgets in a few months. If they were smart, Myspace would pay a bounty ($10K or so) for any user produced widgets which become a part of the myspace ecosystem.
WTL has a good point. If anything, MySpace should charge these widget companies some kind of CPM. Every other website out there has to pay for traffic, why do these widget companies get off the hook? May em pay I say!!
From my use of MySpace, I don’t think they ever officially supported any widgets, etc, anyway.. you have to paste most of these things into your “About Me” or “My favorite bands” type boxes that really have nothing to do with embedding HTML anyway.
Andy Forbes comment was spot on.
Murdocks purchased Myspace for $500 million only to have google offer $900 milion just to be the sole search engine…?
They have found and will continue to find plenty of ways to remain profitable, without having to resort to shutting out small companies providing services for their users.
We offer free layouts, comments, etc to Myspace users, a service which like widgets adds to the success of myspace by giving users exaclty what they want…
I agree with some of these comments that MySpace grew partly due to the openness of letting others develop widgets that added to myspace (certainly their own tools were awful). And also that MySpace grew on the back of advertising.com’s mailing lists, or so I’ve heard.
At Widgetslive last November the Fox interactive team talked about their own widget network. It is obviously their attempt to provide the tools themselves. It was pretty lame in that it didn’t offer anything more than a walled garden of tools.
anyone know if SpringWidgets platform has any behavioral tracking hooks built into it?
Does Ford Motors ask for a piece of the action whenever a Pickup tows a Boat? Hell no. In the same way, MySpace shouldn’t try to make money off of third party add-ons. All boats rise with the tide. The more open and supportive MySpace is the richer the community - for the users, the developers, and News Corp.
MY SPACE has officially JUMPED THE SHARK. Time for users to revolt and realize that they are biting the hand that feeds them.
Yeah. Myspace is starting TO SUCK. The problem is, that there are sites like http://www.imeem.com and http://www.mytuneslive.com that have the music part right.
They figured out we want to upload OUR music, and listen to it on the net. But the problem with these sites is, that they don’t have the user’s. Imeem has a crap load of user’s, but mytuneslive.com only has 60000.
Not exactly a good place to meet people, but a GREAT place to find new music and create a cool custom music playlist FOR MYSPACE.
So if myspace ever blocks mytuneslive.com the way they blocked imeem, then…i’m switching to facebook and I WILL NEVER VISIT MYSPACE AGAIN.
Marcus - thanks very much for posting that article. That’s one of the most interesting ones I’ve read in a very long time. Thanks again.